Merida, The capital of the Yucatan. This city is located conveniantly next to cancun, close enough that you can use it's airports and shipping lanes, but far enough away that tourists won't want to make a day trip of your little city.It was built by the people who would later build cuba. most of the buildings were built by the spanish before Mexico was Mexico.The churches are made from destroyed Mayan ruins, lots of spanish imperial influence still here. I love being in a place like this, just the differences between cultures alone is enough to study for a couple days or so. I don't mind if I get some strange looks, I know I look like an outlander.

It's hot, I have a foot infection, mosquito bites, and a nasty sun burn. Other than that, this is a working vacation

. Sure I have to work on a boat for 10-12 hours a day, but for the other 8 hours I get to see the city, drink beers, listen to latin music, smoke cuban cigars and dance in the streets on the weekends. You should all come to Mexico. a city in the Yucatan, not Juarez :-)I have definately seen that lower Mexico is nothing like the border towns and Mexicans are WAY different from Mexican Americans. Do not judge the entire country on some gang bangers that drive a pimped out Monte Carlo and sag their pants. I found some pretty good people in Mexico, with pretty good ideas. I felt really secure in mexico all of the time and would have even felt safe alone most of the time. My final opinion is that I will probably return to mexico if not live here at some point in my life, I will always live in the US too but a vacation spot on the ocean would be cheaper in Mexico than it would in the states.

I'm looking up more stuff on Merida, It's a pretty cool city but I haven't seen very much of it because I've been working so hard.